2012 - A YEAR OF BBQ IN REVIEW

I added 19 new notches on my BBQ belt this year and thankfully my waist line has stayed the same. After eating all that BBQ I can't afford to buy new britches.

I had really hoped to hit at least two places a month but a busy work schedule, chasing a couple of trailers for weeks, and driving somewhere just to find out the Q-raunt I was stalking was closed for the day, vacation, or for good, kind of killed my average.

JANUARY

I started the year off at one of my longtime favorites, Leo's BBQ. I'm not sure what changed over the year but the consistency I noted  from this visit just doesn't seem to be there anymore. I made a couple of other visits in 2012 and was a little underwhelmed. Not to the point where I won't go back but it's not what it was. On the plus side the strawberry cake is as delicious as it's ever been.

FEBRUARY

My first visit to Bad Brad's brisket inspired me to coin the term Okie Brisket. 

This was just a few short months after my trip to Texas. Where every bite of brisket I put in my mouth was moist and full of flavor. To much of the time the brisket I eat in Oklahoma is dry, flavorless, and tough.

I think it's the way the casual BBQ eating Okie prefers brisket to be served. We don't mind pouring gravy all over anything fried but heaven forbid there be any fat left on our brisket.

After attempting to try Larry's Rib Pit in 2011 only to find out they were closed on Mondays. I found an open Tuesday for a second attempt.

Larry's closed shortly after my visit. Not because I said I didn't really care for the Q but because they retired.

I really kind of expected my blog about Larry's to be my first run in with an over-zealous Q-Raunt owner but Larry either never saw my blog or had mellowed being that close to retirement.

MARCH

I must have picked up a tape-worm late in February because I managed to hit three Q-Raunts and two Q-Trailers in March. If I wasn't eating BBQ. I was writing about it.

I was pretty excited when I heard about Bierocks & BBQ. Coming from a small town in Kansas with a lot of Amish and German influence. I grew up eating bierocks.

Unfortunately I wasn't impressed with the bierocks at Bierocks & BBQ but I did find some pretty tasty Q and even better some sausages that weren't the typical Ekrich style smoked sausage served at most Q-raunts around Oklahoma.

Smokey Ray's and Chuck's were the first two of four Q-Trailers I managed to find in 2012.

Among everything I tried from both trailers. The pork sandwiches went from one end of the spectrum to the other.

The pork sandwich from Smokey Ray's may have been the best pork I ate in 2012 that didn't come from my own backyard. The pork sandwich I got from Chuck's..... Well, most of it went in the trash.

Smokey Ray's was some of  the best Q I ate in the Oklahoma City area in 2012. They can be a little hard to catch but if you see them out it's definitely worth the stop.
George's Happy Hog  did not disappoint me when I was finally able to find it. It is near the state capitol in a little strip mall tucked away in a neighborhood.

George's changed owners during the year. I made one visit after the ownership change. The food was still the same and one of the former owners was there helping the new owners through the transition.

My last stop in March was at Trail's End BBQ & Grill in Wynnewood, OK.

I'm normally leary of places that serve other ethnic foods other than BBQ and I have not tried any of Trail's End  Mexican or American foods but their BBQ has been consistently good on every visit I've made here.

APRIL

Well in March I roared like a lion but in April I fizzled out and only made one BBQ stop at Van's Pig Stand in Moore.

I've always found Van's Q to be good but how good does vary between locations. You also need to be wary of the drive-thru at the Moore location. I was shorted 5oz of meat the last time I used it and I've seen others complain about incorrect orders and being shorted meat on Urbanspoon.

My sit down dining experiences at all Van's locations have always been positive.

MAY

I spent most of May stalking an elusive Q-Trailer and when I finally caught up with the Double D trailer I wasn't disappointed. 

Unfortunately I have never seen them vending from the location I found them at since that day and I'm not sure they are still vending.

Last I heard they were vending on, or near, Tinker AFB in Midwest City but I have not been able to verify that.

JUNE

What the??? How the??? Why the??? ....... I didn't make a single stop in June.... I don't remember what I was doing but if I had to take a guess I would probably say that fishing was interfering with my Q eating. Fishing is my other passion in life and sometimes the two clash with each other.

JULY

I made up for the lack of Q in June with a road trip, a home cook, and a trip to one of my favorites in SW Oklahoma as well as celebrating Indpendence Day with a Christmas in July party.

July 4th we invited friends and family over for a Christmas in July party. 

I had purchased a couple of fresh turkey breasts after Christmas  when they went on sale and we put them to good use in July. All the food I cooked, and that everyone brought, was about as good as it can get. This meal was hands down one of the best I ate in 2012.

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Mid July I went on a 3 stop road trip through the Central SW part of Oklahoma starting with the BBQ Barn in Minco, OK.

Overall I wasn't impressed with BBQ Barn meats but their potato salad and the owners friendliness was top notch. They were doing pretty good business the day I was there so apparently they fill the niche for the locals around Minco.

My second stop on this road trip was to be Roy's Bar-B-Q in Chickasha but they were closed for vacation and I haven't had the opportunity to make it back.

I loved the look of Roy's. It screamed tasty smoked meat is served here to me so I plan on making it out there to try it early in 2013.

KT's Smokehouse in Blanchard was the final stop of the day. As I mentioned before I am leary of places that serve food other than Q and KT's doesn't pull it off as well as Trail's End does. 

They are good enough if you are in the area but much like the BBQ Barn on this trip. They aren't worth making an extended drive for.

In July I also started my quest to re-create the brisket I had eaten in Central Texas in December of 2011 and to help get one of my friends hooked on making some tasty Q in his own back yard.

I'm still chasing that perfect Central Texas style of brisket. I've gotten close but haven't quite nailed it yet. I did nail the slab of pork spare ribs that I taught my friend with. Ribs don't get much better than the slab we cooked that day.

I concluded the month of July with a trip to the Q-Raunt that I'm going to declare as The Best of 2012..... Mud Creek Outpost BBQ

Mud Creek was as close as I found to a destination Q-Raunt in Oklahoma. Which means I feel comfortable enough to say that I don't think you'll be disappointed if you make the drive to the tiny town of Ringling, OK to eat Q.

I've only been to Mud Creek twice and that was over a two year span and the Q was as tasty the second time I made it out there as I remembered it being on my first visit shortly after they opened.

AUGUST

Smokin' Okies was the 4th trailer I managed to try in 2012. They mostly setup at Covel and Kelly in Edmond, OK but on Wednesday's they can be found in front of Elemental Coffee at 8th and Hudson downtown Oklahoma City.

It's pretty amazing that with the current food truck craze going on in Oklahoma City that four of them are Q-Trailers and I've actually seen a couple of other trailers out recently that I haven't tried yet.

Big Smokey Bar-B-Q may have been my most enjoyable stop of the year. Not so much for the food but for the great conversation I was able to have with the owner.

Big Smokey also had one of the coolest looking pits I've seen in Oklahoma so far yet as well.

I got a little bored in August so I decided to let my Facebook followers choose what I was going to smoke one weekend. The only stipulations was that I had to be able to find it in Oklahoma City.

Goat, brisket, and bologna were the meats voted on with bologna being the winner.

Never one to do anything half assed. I went out and bought a hunk of all beef bologna that cost about as much as a select brisket.

I had also picked up a slab of beef back ribs for this cook. This was my first time cooking beef ribs and they didn't come out perfect but they were still really darned good and I've gone on to cook several slabs since then with better results each time.

SEPTEMBER

The Rib Shack was my only stop in September. Other than getting to spoof a B-52's song in the blog it wasn't much to talk about.

OCTOBER

I had been wanting to make a road trip to the Tulsa area since early 2012 but things kept coming up to keep me from making it there.

Unfortunately the one time that I did make it to the Tulsa area this year was a whirlwind trip to see Ralphie May at the Convention Center and the top two places on my list weren't going to be open while I was there.

I decided to give Oklahoma Joe's a try since this location is a sister restaurant to the famous Kansas City location.

Oklahoma Joe's is most famous for their burnt ends and while these were good the rest of the food was just ok. Nothing I would consider making the drive to Tulsa to have again but if I lived in Tulsa I would eat there again.

I also visited a new place in downtown OKC in October. I commented on the lack of parking and that the brisket wasn't very good and they went ballistic accusing me of slander and crediting another Oklahoma City person with being the author of my blog.

That's about all I care to say about this place. I try to remain as objective as I can with what I do here but this place left a bad taste in my mouth both literally and figuratively.

NOVEMBER

Coach's in Bricktown had been on my list for awhile since I had met the new pitmaster when I first began this crazy idea for eating BBQ several years ago and I was pretty sure the Q would be tasty.

Coach's turned out to be a good way to end the year and they are the only place I know in Oklahoma City serving burnt ends.

Coach's also serves a Carolina style pulled pork that isn't typical in the Oklahoma City area.

All in all 2012 was a pretty good year for eating Q. There were a few busts but I also had a lot of really good Q and 2013 is looking to get started with a bang.

I'll be taking my first road trip of the year on January 5th and I plan on hitting 3-4 places on that trip and I also have a weekend trip to Tulsa planned for late January.